CAMDEN, Johnson Newlon, (father of Johnson Newlon Camden, Jr.),
a Senator from West Virginia; born in Collins Settlement, Lewis County, Va. (now
West Virginia), March 6, 1828; attended school in Sutton, Va. (now West Virginia); appointed as a
cadet to the United States Military Academy at West Point from 1846 until 1848, when he resigned;
studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Sutton in 1851; appointed the same year
prosecuting attorney for Braxton County; elected prosecuting attorney for Nicholas County in 1852;
engaged in the development of petroleum and in manufacturing in Parkersburg, Va. (now West
Virginia) in 1858; president of the First National Bank of Parkersburg at its organization in 1862;
unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor in 1868 and again in 1872; elected as a Democrat to
the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1881, to March 3, 1887; resumed the practice of
law at Parkersburg; again elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused
by the death of John E. Kenna, and served from January 25, 1893, to March 3, 1895; chairman,
Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expense (Fifty-third Congress), Committee on
Railroads (Fifty-third Congress); continued former business pursuits; died in Baltimore, Md., April
25, 1908; interment in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Parkersburg, W.Va.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Summers, Festus. Johnson Newlon Camden: A
Study in Individualism. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1937.